If the rest of the season goes like opening week, the Vashon High School boys soccer team will be strong this year.

After losing their home opener to Fife 5-1, the Pirate boys went on to beat Chimacum 2-0 at home then won at Eatonville 4-1.

The Chimacum win was the only league game, leaving the Pirates tied for first in the Nisqually League with Charles Wright and Orting.

Fife got the only first-half goal in Monday’s opener. Three goals were scored in a one-minute stretch in the second half. Fife scored first then on the kickoff stole the ball and quickly scored again. On the next kickoff Vashon struck just as quickly with Jackson McFall finishing to make the score 3-1 Fife. The very talented Trojans scored twice more to put the game out of reach of the Pirates.

The Pirate scoring against Chimacum was almost perfectly balanced against the clock. In the seventh minute Nick Gass was tripped in the penalty box as he was about to take a shot. He converted the ensuing penalty kick for what proved to be the winning goal.

Michael Butz gave Vashon an insurance goal with seven minutes remaining in the game. Butz came out of a crowd of Cowboy defenders just outside the 18-yard box. He unleashed a low hard shot from almost dead center a yard out from the penalty spot to clinch the win for the Pirates.

But for the Cowboys’ goalkeeper, Vashon could have won by five goals. The Chimacum keeper was fearless as he went one-on-one with everything the Pirates could muster.

The Vashon boys carried the momentum from Thursday’s win to Eatonville pitch.

The Pirates took the game to the Cruisers from the opening whistle. The aggressiveness paid off when McFall was tripped in the penalty box and calmly converted the penalty kick to put the Pirates up 1-0 with just 13 minutes gone.

Eatonville tied it up when the uneven grass surface contributed to a Pirate defender missing a tackle, leaving the Cruiser striker open to chip the over the keeper and tie the game.

Elias Weston put the Pirates ahead for good in the 35th minute, taking a long feed from Will O’Neil and curving the ball around the Cruiser keeper.

In the first minute of the second half Gass put the ball forward into open space and, in a perfectly timed run, Nick Fox-Edele sprinted past the last defender to score.

Pirate goalkeeper Robert McGinnis got a rare assist in the 73rd minute when he boomed a goal kick to Fox-Edele who again beat all the Cruiser defenders for the final goal.

Vashon had only nine regular varsity players available for the trip to Eatonville and all the JV, and swing players got substantial playing time.

“We’re still building, sorting out new players,” said coach Paul Beytebiere after the game. “We’re starting to gel.”

Beytebiere praised the younger players who he said “stepped up and did their jobs.”

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